Word: th
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...Peculiarities of national speech make it nearly impossible for a Greek to pronounce a b, an Arab a p, a Russian an h, a Frenchman a th. In the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, when Sicilians rebelled against their Angevin overlords, those suspected of being Frenchmen were forced, in an irresistible repeat of the Biblical shibboleth, to repeat the Italian phrase ceci e ciceri, and slaughtered when they could not manage the Italian ch sound...
Mounting a show in Christ Church brought its own difficulties. The auditorium closed at 5 p.m. while the group prepared for the opening. Most of the theatre people seemed to be used to working at night, through th early hours of the morning, and the Church's hours caused some distress. Many of those working on the show were involved during the day with school work and jobs, so the few hours left in the evening were hurried and hectic. One can imagine the embarrassment caused by the minister appearing quietly in the auditorium while the irritated stage crew wrestled...
Ever since his installation in 1947, Bishop Pierre Marie Théas of Tarbes and Lourdes has battled Lourdes' trashy commercialism. "I am not the bishop of Babylon," he said. He removed hundreds of crutches that once littered the Grotto and restored much of the cave's original rocky austerity. Last week Bishop Theas struck hard at the exploiters of the Grotto's waters. His edict: "In no manner must it be commercialized. The Grotto water is foredestined to be drunk and to be washed in. It can be so used at Lourdes or at home...
...Bishop Théas has also pushed ahead with the construction of a new basilica, big enough to hold 20,000 and almost entirely underground (so expensive has the project proved-an estimated $6,000,000 thus far-that the Vatican sent a bishop coadjutor to take charge of the finances). On a hillside above Lourdes, workmen are hurrying to finish the "City of Help," a dozen simple buildings where 600 poor pilgrims may stay free of charge...
Song of the Dove. On the anniversary last week, Bishop Théas celebrated Mass on the steps of the old basilica, before Pierre Cardinal Gerlier, Archbishop of Lyons, 17 visiting bishops (two from the U.S.†), and a sprinkling of politicians, including Italy's former Premier Amintore Fanfani. Bishop Théas read the gradual for the day: "The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come; the song of the dove is heard in our land. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come, my dove in the clefts of the rock...